FUNCTION OF THE CO-OPERATIVES IN THE REGULATION OF THE RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROMOTION

Cooperatives are economic agents widely established in the agrarian sector and constitute one of the most effective tools to attain the objectives of the European Union policies for rural development. The legal framework for rural development is mainly found in the European Union's legislation which implements a complex system of measures and that nowadays revolves around the (CE) Regulation no. 1698/2005, on support for rural development by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD). The member States' legislation applies and implements the European rules, but it develops, in addition, local regulations about cooperatives and rural development. In the Spanish case, national and regional legislation about both cooperatives and rural development has to be taken into account. In this paper, the role that agrarian cooperatives fulfil on rural development within the EU, national and regional legal frameworks is analyzed, based on the substantive Spanish legislation. Agrarian cooperatives are local development promoting agents as a intermediary with the public administrations, and as members of the "local action groups" set up by the LEADER methodology. Likewise, agrarian cooperatives may be recipient of additional aids that several Spanish Autonomous Communities provide to carry out local development measures.